The expansion of international trade has been essential to development and reducing poverty but the relationship between economic growth, poverty reduction and trade is not a simple one. This publication looks into this relationship and examines the challenges poor people face in benefiting from trade opportunities. Written jointly by the World Bank Group and the World Trade Organization, the publication examines trade and poverty across four dimensions: rural poverty; the informal economy; the impact of fragility and conflict; and gender. The publication looks at how trade could make a greater contribution to ending poverty through increasing efforts to lower trade costs, improve the enabling environment, implement trade policy in conjunction with other areas of policy, better manage risks faced by the poor, and improve data used for policy-making. This report has three key messages: 1) A sustained effort to deepen economic integration and further lower trade costs is essential for ending poverty. 2) Lowering tariffs and non-tariff barriers between countries are essential elements of this agenda, but this must form part facing the extreme poor, and for many, their disconnection from markets, if they are to benefit from trade. 3) The World Trade Organization and World Bank Group have made substantial contributions to trade and poverty reduction. However, a great deal more remains to be done to end poverty, and both institutions and other partners need to continually review their activities to support poverty reduction to ensure they remain relevant in an ever-changing world.

The gender gap in employment is the highest globally in the MENA region, with the unemployment rate of young women exceeding that of men by over 20%. In many parts of the region, the more educated one is the more likely he/she is to be unemployed. This underscores the need to address the supply of jobs for educated youth through private sector development and reform. For the MENA region, only Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE fall in the top 50 in terms of labour market efficiency, which includes indicators that account for cooperation between employers and employees, wage determination, female participation in the workforce and a country’s ability to develop and attract talent.

This Country Brief is part of a series that looks at the current and ongoing research and policy advocacy activities of the International Labour Organization (ILO) on gender equality in the world of work. It highlights the overall employment context, the underlining concerns, the results achieved and future plans.

The EFTA States and Lebanon shall establish a free trade area in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement with a view to spurring economic activities in their territories, thereby raising standards of living and improving employment conditions and contributing to Euro-Mediterranean economic integration. This Agreement, which is based on trade relations between market economies and on the respect of democratic principles and human rights, are: - to achieve the liberalisation of trade in goods, in conformity with Article XXIV of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (hereinafter referred to as the “GATT 1994”); - to gradually develop an environment conducive to increased investment flows and enhanced trade in services; - to ensure adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights; - to progressively liberalise government procurement; - to support the harmonious development of economic relations between the Parties through the expansion of trade, and economic and technical co-operation.

League of Arab States, on the basis of faith in the national unity of the Arab nation, aware of the vitality of Arab economic integration as a step towards Arab economic unity and essential means to promote development within the framework of the Pan-Arab Arab economy, free, developed a coherent and balanced. And an investigation as provided for in Article II of the Charter of the League of Arab States of the need for close cooperation between the countries of the university in economic and financial affairs, including to facilitate and expand trade in the fields of agriculture, industry and related services.